1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, which makes communications in a network different from an existing network, a communication method, a program for controlling the communication apparatus, and a storage medium that stores the program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-349777 discloses a technique which switches a communication in an infrastructure mode and that in an ad-hoc mode in accordance with an expected traffic amount when communicating using a communication apparatus compatible to the IEEE802.11 standard.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-363645 (US Patent Application No. 2004240405) discloses a technique which switches a communication via an access point, and a direct link communication that allows stations to directly communicate with each other.
The IEEE802.11e standard provides a scheme that allows an access point to execute traffic flow rate control. With this scheme, a station which is permitted by the access point to make transmission/reception of traffic with a certain characteristic can make transmission/reception guaranteed with high quality of communication (QoS: Quality of Service).
Upon switching to the ad-hoc mode, since the ad-hoc mode cannot make a communication that can assure QoS, if transmission/reception of traffic with a certain characteristic is desired, such transmission/reception cannot always be made as expected.
Upon switching to the direct link mode, if another station has already made a communication with a large traffic amount, the surplus frequency band of the network is small, and the access point does not often permit the station of interest to make a communication of a desired traffic amount. Even if such communication is permitted, since the flow rate control is committed to the access point, the station of interest cannot make transmission/reception as expected. Therefore, upon switching to the direct link mode, if a given station desires to make transmission/reception of traffic with a certain characteristic, the result is not always as expected.